


Underneath the Two Suns

by Gryffindor_by_birth



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Multi, Post-Season/Series 05, Post-Season/Series 05 Finale, Season/Series 06
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-07-27 07:58:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16214810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gryffindor_by_birth/pseuds/Gryffindor_by_birth
Summary: 125 years have passed. Their friends are dead and have left them with a full grown kid.With the last words of one Monty Green,  or to be known henceforth as self sacrificing genius, in their minds our heroes set forth to be the good guys.But will Jasper turn out to be right? Is really the problem them?My telling of what happens as we start Book 2.





	1. Chapter 1

She’s still staring at the two suns when reality comes crashing down on her. She detangles herself from Bellamy in whose embrace she had somehow ended up in. 

“We need a game plan.” She breathes out. Resolutely not looking at Bellamy instead looking at Jordan. 

Gods! Jordan! He’s this child that’s almost their age. But someone who is a kid of one of their closest friends, friends who have left him in hers and Bellamy’s care. She wasn’t stupid, she understood what the instructions implied, she had been named the godmother to this combination of two of the people she loved the most in the world.

“Okay kid. How long you’ve been up?” Clarke asks, her voice taking up the motherly tone that she had somehow learned over the years looking after Madi. 

Jordan looks down abashed, “A day and a half.” he continues hurriedly as if afraid that they’ll be mad at him, “I know that dad said that I had to wake both of you up instantly, but I really needed some time to you know… process.” He looses steam by the last word, looking at his shoes toeing the ground. 

Clarke wants to let tears escape but she holds them back, this guy went to bed and woke up having lost his parents, this wasn’t the time for _her_ to cry. 

So putting on her bravest face she approaches him with the same hesitance she held whenever approaching an frightened Madi, “Hey, no need to feel guilty. You were putting on your brave face, you get that from your mother she used to have this routine whenever we had to go for rounds - she’ll stand still, the gun on the ground, her eyes closed take two deep breaths and then boom she’ll be ready, she’ll pick up the gun go to her post and face whatever challenges the day had for her.”

Jordan looks up at her with wonder in his eyes, “She never told me about that story.”

Clarke cracks a smile, “No, she wouldn’t have, I’m guessing she never told you how much of a better shot she was than your father?”

Jordan finally lets out a laugh his face brightening up instantly, “No, she actually said that a lot. Used to tease dad about it non stop. And dad would always tease her back saying she still wasn’t as good as you or Bellamy.”  
At the mention of his name Clarke finally risks a glance at Bellamy, he is watching the two of them with intense concentration. She wishes she could still read him as well as she used to before Praimfaya came and chipped their bond, but she can’t, she can’t recognize the emotions in his eyes as he stares at her consoling the kid of two of the people he considered family. 

When he doesn’t volunteer any words Clarke continues with the agenda. Looking at Jordan who seems rejuvenated, she asks, “Did the override codes for the cyrosleep pods change or are they the same?”

Jordan replies enthusiastically, “Oh! They are the same. Who all are you waking up first, I wanna meet everyone.”

She gives him a tight lipped smile before turning to face Bellamy peering into his eyes she tries to convey her urgency, “So me and Bellamy need to talk, why don’t you look around, see if you can find the decrypted Eligus III files.”

Jordan tries imperceptibly flit his eyes between her and Bellamy, deciding on something he gives her a nod and turns and marches over to the control panel and starts typing away. 

Turning to Bellamy she gestures with her head pointing in the direction of the cyro chamber, motioning him to follow her.

She turns and starts walking in that direction, hearing footsteps follow her. Once they are out of Jordan’s hearing range she places a hand on Bellamy’s arm stopping them both so they are standing in a corridor. “Who all do you think we should wake up first? ”

Bellamy replies instantly probably having started thinking about it the moment Jordan mentioned it, “All the people from the Ring. They deserve to be the first to know about Monty and Harper.”

Clarke nods, “Miller too. However things turned out he was friends with both Monty and Harper. Especially after everything they went through together in Mt. Weather he deserves a chance to say goodbye too.”

Bellamy is silent for a moment his mouth in a hard frown but he nods his head anyway. 

“We need to wake up Madi too. There are decisions to be made.”

Anger shoots up Clarke’s spine, sounds of clanking chains and pleas for help fill her ears, but she squashes it down. She sighs placing her hand over her closed eyes, “Yeah. I know. I’ll do it. Also Indra and Diyoza.”

At Bellamy’s startled look she explains, “If decisions are to be made we need someone who represents every faction. And even though Madi has the Flame, Indra is the one who knows Wonkru.”

‘Except Octavia’ remains unspoken, neither of them are ready to face her yet. 

Bellamy nods and starts to walk towards the cyro chamber, Clarke stops him again by clutching his wrist. When he turns to look back at her question in his eyes, she mumbles out, “Can you handle waking up your friends. I’ll handle Madi, Miller, Indra and Diyoza.”

He seems like he wants to argue, say something like they’re your friends too but he holds himself back, a solemn expression on his face he turns and walks towards the chamber. 

Clarke holds back a sob, what did she expect? For him to console her? Tell her a lie? Tell her that she hadn’t fucked up all her relationships? 

‘Raven Echo Murphy Emori they’re my family.’ Echoes in her mind. She hushes the voice whispering the words over and over again in her mind.

So she steels herself and follows. Catching up with him in a few strides. 

She’s the first one through the door. She goes straight for Madi’s pod her fingers skate over the letters MADI GRIFFIN before she enters the override codes into the monitor. 

The pod hisses and starts moving outwards.

She lays eyes on her sleeping face before Madi’s eyes fly open, the first thing she sees is her mother smiling down at her. Madi breaks out her biggest smile, moving with difficulty at first and ease eventually she throws her arms around Clarke as she sits up. 

Clarke lets out a laugh, her first genuine one in 125 years. 

“Shap da strik natblida. Did you dream?”

Madi still smiling her huge smile shakes her head no.

“Well I did, and you were there, we were lying under the stars.”

“Liar.” Madi accuses. 

“Caught me.” Clarke laughs. But she sobers up quickly, “We need you on the bridge okay. There’s a lot to discuss.”

Madi nods solemnly the child gone the Commander in her place. Again anger courses through Clarke’s veins but she gets a handle on it. 

With a pat on her back she urges Madi to dismount as she turns to look for Miller’s pod. She finds Bellamy and Raven staring at her she turns away before she starts analysing the expression on their faces.

Locating Miller’s pod she goes to open it up, gives him a one line instruction to stay quiet and move towards the bridge. 

Then she stares at Octavia’s pod and her earlier reasoning for waking up Miller comes back to her. Sighing she goes up to Bellamy who is working on waking up Echo and whispers so the waiting Raven and Miller won’t hear. 

“We need to wake up Octavia too. Monty was close to her, once.”

Bellamy looks like he’s struggling with himself but finally with resignation he says, “I’ll wake her up.”

Clarke nods and goes over to Indra’s pod. She tries not to listen in when Octavia wakes up but she always was a curious person. 

“Big Brother.” Octavia breathes out. 

And then, “Why isn’t everyone up?”

Bellamy’s gruff voice replies, it is clear he is trying to hold his emotions at bay, “I’ll explain later. Just get to the bridge.”

Clarke refocuses on Indra who like her had an ear out for the Blake sibling reunion. 

Nodding at her she moves on to Diyoza. 

“Hello fellow mother. Didn’t expect it to be your pretty face I would wake up to.”

Her lips, the traitors, twitch into something of a smile, “You’re being allowed at the big adult table don’t blow your chance.”

She gives a hand to help her up as one of her hands is busy clutching at her belly. 

When she turns to face the people assembled in the narrow passage of the chamber, she notices Shaw standing there too, probably Raven had convinced Bellamy to wake him. She meets Bellamy’s eyes as they both share a sad look and start herding people towards the bridge. Clarke moves up to walk beside Madi who puts her hand in hers. 

Before they reach the bridge she shares another glance with Bellamy, who clears his throat before speaking, “There were some complications with our plan.”

“What’s new.” Murphy mutters. 

Bellamy continues as if there had been no interruption, “We’ve been asleep for a 125 years.” He pauses to let that sink in but before anyone can make any exclamations he ploughs on, “and there is someone we’ll like you to meet.”

Jordan appears instantly as if he had been waiting for his cue, “Hi, I am Jordan. Monty and Harper’s kid. It’s so nice to finally meet you all.”

There are a lot of reactions from the people of the Ring and a lot of confusion in others. But everyone seems to be coming to the same realizations Clarke and Bellamy had when Jordan introduced himself to them.

Before chaos can ensue Clarke makes her way to the bridge prompting people to follow her. 

Leaning towards Jordan she mutters in his ear, “You’re a fast learner kid.”

Jordan gives her a happy smile. But it quickly changes to an apprehensive one. 

When everyone is assembled Clarke plays the video log allowing Bellamy to stand with his family for support. 

Everyone is silent as they watch the logs, finally breaking out in tears when they see the new planet. 

After Monty’s messages are done there’s a ringing silence, as everyone stares at Jordan. 

It’s Madi who finally breaks the stalemate, moving up to Jordan she thrusts out her hand for him to shake. When he tentatively does so she states with an air of importance, “I’m your older sister, if anyone troubles you, you come to me. Clarke always did say that when Monty and Harper had their kid I would have to step up and be the older sister and look after my sibling.”

That seems to break the ice, as everyone converges onto Jordan putting their grief aside to console this kid who was now their responsibility. Murphy is loudly chortling and teasing everyone by reminding them that he’s the kid’s favorite.  
Only Octavia and Miller don’t join in, standing uncomfortably besides Indra and Diyoza. 

Bellamy catches her eye and they decide to let them have this moment, and then they tackle the next challenge. 


	2. Chapter 2

While everyone is busy trying not to cry and acquainting themselves with Jordan, Clarke moves towards Diyoza and Indra. 

Ignoring Octavia’s and Miller’s presence she talks to them in hushed whispers, “What do you think we should be doing first.”

Diyoza and Indra are thinking, when a voice jars Clarke, “Why don’t you make another list?” Miller’s voice rings out and a hush falls onto the crowd. 

Clarke turns her gaze onto his rigid figure, he is shaking with anger. This is probably something he has been keeping in since a long time. Octavia gives him a warning stare but he doesn’t notice his eyes resolutely on Clarke. 

“Decide who’s gonna live and who’s gonna die. Like you did during Praimfaya.” 

Clarke shudders, there’s smell of parchment and ink in the air and logistics of life expectancy of every Arkadian floats through her mind.

Miller’s voice brings her back, “Lets let you decide who gets to see the planet and who keeps sleeping. Like you decided it was okay for me to live and for my dad to be tossed out to the fire, where he burnt because someone didn’t do their job and test the nightblood properly but were lucky enough to be injected so they could live the years in a green valley without any consequences.-”

A ‘shtck’ sound interrupts him and then there’s a sword at his neck. 

“Apologize.” 

Clarke doesn’t know when Madi retrieved her sword, but it’s at Miller’s throat. The sword is shaking, Clarke follows her gaze down the sword to Madi’s form which too is shaking with anger and unshed tears. 

“I said apologize.” Madi reiterates. 

“Madi…” Clarke sounds, caution in her voice. 

“No Clarke! He doesn’t know anything. None of them do. They don’t know about the sickness radiation brings. They don’t know it was 58 days after praimfaya that you finally reached the valley. They don’t know about the burns you have still on your back. They don’t know that the first thing you did when you found the dead of my village was give them a proper send off. They don’t know about what happened at the five year anniversary.”

Clarke sucks in a breath she didn’t know that Madi knew about it either. The feel of a pistol and taste of copper in her mouth overtake her, so she is powerless to stop what comes out of Madi’s mouth quite in time. 

“They don’t know about the 2199 -.”

“Madi.” Her voice has a tone of warning now. 

Madi stops herself, but the sword remains at Miller’s neck. 

Clarke takes halting steps forward, crouching down in front of her Clarke gently takes Madi into her arms. A moment later the sword clatters to the ground and Clarke barely keeps in a breath of relief. 

“Hey it’s okay now. I’m sorry. It’s okay.”

Turning to Miller she says, “Why don’t you go to one of the barracks and take a breather. We’ll call you if we need you.”

Miller huffs but doesn’t argue, turning on his heels he leaves the bridge. 

Clarke takes Madi’s face in her hands, wipes the few tears that have leaked. Giving her a smile she straightens up. 

All eyes are on her, but she doesn’t meet anyone’s gaze too afraid to see what she’ll find there. 

“So Indra, Diyoza any thoughts.”

“We need to make contact with the Ground.” Diyoza is the one who speaks up. 

“The last time we landed on a planet we thought was inhabited we ran into traps that killed my men.”

Clarke cracks a smile and hears Murphy’s chuckle resound from somewhere. 

“Yeah that happened to us too.”

A whoop and cries of Apogee ring in her ears and she finds Octavia’s eyes knows she’s remembering the same events. 

“Ok so how do we do that? Shaw? Do you think you and Raven and Jordan can look into it? Jordan has been perusing the Eligius III files he’ll help.”

She almost falters at Raven’s name and risks a glance at her, she is staring back. She averts her eyes quickly. 

“Madi I need you to meditate pull up any information Becca had on Eligius III, see if any of it made its way into the AI.”

Madi nods glad to have something to do. 

She glances over to Bellamy, he is looking at her with pain in his eyes, Clarke blocks it out focusing on the task at hand. 

She walks over to him, he is flanked by Echo, Murphy and Emori. Echo is looking at her with fury in her eyes, she doesn’t understand why. 

“I’m gonna go with Madi, get a nice quiet place to meditate, call me if they find anything?” she gestures towards Shaw, Raven and Jordan who are sitting at controls trying to do their best. 

He nods, for a second it seems like he wants to say something but he shuts his mouth. 

Clarke turns and leaves with Madi. 

* * *

 

They have found a quiet quarter to get comfortable in. Clarke instructs Madi to take the correct pose, slow her breathing, concentrate on her thoughts and let the information flow. 

It’s a quiet moment afterwards when she hears footsteps coming down the hall.

Glancing at Madi to make sure she is not disturbed. She quietly goes to open the door.   
She comes face to face with Raven a hand raised poised to start knocking. She puts a finger to her lips points to Madi then exits the room closing the door gently behind her. 

She raises an eyebrow in question, trying not to remember Raven’s hurt look when McCreary appeared to take her away. 

“We found a problem while trying to contact the Ground, Bellamy said to retrieve you.”

Clarke nods wondering why it was Raven who came to call her but way too afraid to voice her questions. 

They starts moving towards the bridge. 

“So… radiation burns?”

Clarke jerks coming out of her mind to stare at Raven who is Resolutely staring back at her not averting her eyes even for a second. 

Her hand involuntarily goes to touch her lower back where some burns still hadn’t receded, Raven’s sharp eyes follow her movements. 

“Yeah they were all over my body when I woke up but they healed quite quickly.”

Raven sucks in a breath. “Madi…”

“Oh no, She wasn’t exposed to the death wave, only radiation so she had fever and vomiting but that was over in a few days or so she told me.”

Raven ponders the implications of what she has revealed, if radiation sickness took days to heal how long did it take for radiation burns? 

“58 days…” Raven asks more tentative than before. 

Clarke closes her mouth, remembers the taste of sands, a parched throat, feel of hot metal of a gun pressed to her temple. 

“I really don’t want to talk about that.”

Raven scrunches up her eyebrows, her lips in hard line, but nods anyway. 

“2199.” It’s not a question, it’s a statement. 

“What about it?” Clarke asks avoiding her gaze. 

They’re almost at the bridge. Just a few more steps. 

“It wouldn’t have anything to do with this pen drive Jordan gave me with the message ‘Radio Calls’ would it.”

Clarke stops in her tracks. Turning to Raven she notices that she has stopped too and is holding a pen drive up to the light. 

In a moment of child like petulance brought on by abject fear she swipes for the drive.

But Raven is too fast she quickly encloses the drive in her fist. 

“Ah so it does.” Raven cackles. Clarke doesn’t even get to enjoy the easy comraderie that exists between them too focused on the enclosed fist and what it contains. 

“Raven that’s personal, give it back.”

“Nah. You see calls are supposed to be between two people and belong equally to both so this belongs to us as much it does to you.”

Clarke grows angry, “You didn’t care about them when I was sending them so why would you now?”

She knows she’s let something slip when Raven’s eyes grow watery, “2199.” She mutters under her breath, looking up at Clarke she breathes out, “Clarke everyday? You called us-”

Whatever she was going to say is cut off by Jordan appearing. “Hey, where have you guys been? We’ve been waiting for-” he trails off when notices the stare down between the two women. 

Clarke breaks it first giving Jordan her best reassuring smile she starts walking towards the bridge. Stopping for a second she turns back and says, “Without fail.”

* * *

 

Back on the bridge she goes to stand by Diyoza who’s standing to the side away from everyone else. Noticing her hand on her bump Clarke curses herself before speaking up, “When we’re done here let me have a look at you. All that cyro sleep couldn’t have had been good for the baby.”

“You’re not gonna put a gun to it again, are you.” Diyoza smirks. 

Clarke lets out a surprised laugh, “No. I’m not.”

She then notices the silence and looks over to see that everyone is giving them weird looks. They’re probably wondering why she they both are being so familiar with each other. They don’t understand the burdens Clarke and Diyoza both carry as leaders who tried their best for the sake of humanity and failed. 

Doing her best to steer the conversation towards important matters at hand, Clarke clears her throat and asks, “So what have you found?”

Jordan is the one who responds, “So... we found the rest of the Eligius III files but the method dad tried for decoding the coordinates is not working we have nothing on their research into the planet.”

Clarke is startled for a moment at hearing Monty so casually be labelled as a dad but pushes the thought aside, “What about communicating with the ground.”

Raven shakes her head, “The ships systems at present wouldn’t work. Even if they were strong enough to penetrate the radiation filled atmosphere of the Earth. The radiation on this planet is totally different we can’t get a signal through.”

“About this radiation,” Emori speaks up, “if it’s soo strong what about us? Will we be able to survive down there?”

“You won’t.”

Clarke turns to find Madi entering the bridge. She searches for any sign of distress on her features and releases a sigh of relief when she finds none. Madi comes to stand by her side and she places a hand on her shoulder and is pleasantly surprised when a hand comes up to clutch at it. 

Madi stares ahead though, “I was able to get a lot of information from A.L.I.E., the radiation levels on the planet,  the predicted atmospheric concentration and the reason why members of Eligius III were given nightblood.”

She pauses for a moment to let it sink in, “Only Clarke and I can go down.”

There’s a hubbub of noise at that particular revelation. 

Raven’s voice returns silence to the room, “We shouldn’t be so sure of that either, we don’t know if the nightblood solution worked for the Eligius III we only have theories and hypotheses to go on.”

Suddenly she's back in the sterile environment, the scent of antiseptic overtakes Clarke, she is injecting herself with a black liquid, ‘I bear it so they don’t have to.’.

“I’ll go down first and asses the situation.”

“No!” Bellamy squawks, "Absolutely not."

Clarke matches his gaze, “You know this is the only choice. We need to make sure that the ground is survivable. And I have the best chance at finding that out. Check if it’s survivable for the rest of you without receiving nightblood. If it’s not survivable for you without the nightblood solution I’ll come back up and synthesize more. I can do 5 extractions maximum, then we’ll have to wait a while for it to settle then we can do two to three extractions each to make more. Or maybe I’ll find the Eligius III people and they’ll have a solution. But for anything to happen I need to go and investigate. It’s the only option.” Her voice is barely a breath by the end of her rant. 

There’s silence as everyone digests every point she has made, she knows Bellamy is trying to find loopholes. 

“I’ll go too.” Madi speaks up. 

“No, absolutely not!” Clarke says aghast. 

“Why not. If you can go why can’t I?”

Bellamy is looking smug. 

Clarke scrambles for an excuse, and in the weirdest turn of events its Octavia who comes to her defence. 

“Because you are the Commander.” She speaks her voice quiet. 

Clarke catches on quickly even as Bellamy frowns, “Octavia’s right.” Now that’s something she never thought she’ll say. “You are needed here, you will be needed when we wake the grounders up to keep the peace. We can’t risk you.”

“And we can risk you?” Surprisingly its Murphy who makes that point. 

“You are not risking me.” Clarke smiles through her pain, “Have you forgotten I’m Wanheda the Commander of Death, Honorary cockroach. Death can’t defeat me.” 

She knows that she’s bluffing, Murphy knows that she’s bluffing, everyone knows that she’s bluffing. But she looks into his eyes and pleads with him to not say anything more, miraculously he doesn’t. 

She looks back at Madi, knows that if she hadn’t had the A.I. in her she wouldn’t have listened to reason. But the fact was she did and had the previous Commanders whispering in her ears, making her choose what was best for her people. 

So Madi nods. 

“Do you know how to fly a ship?” Raven says, she somehow manages to look both furious and resigned. 

“Shaw can take me, and remain behind pressure sealed doors when I open the hatch. He can come back when I’ve disembarked and come to pick me up in two days.”

Raven looks hurt and is about to protest, when Shaw inturrupts, “I’ll stay with you.”

Clarke jerks her head to stare at him her lips parting,  protests at the tip of her tongue, when she is halted by his raised hand. 

“Just listen. There could be various situations that happen on the ground, you could have to leave early or stay late, and there’s no means to contact the main ship from the ground but radio will work on the ground and we can communicate that way. I won’t ever leave the ship. Also by being on the ground I can work from the other end to establish a reception with the main ship, while Raven works this end.”

Now how does one argue with that logic. By admitting defeat. 

Clarke lets out a huge sigh and unable to form any words just nods. 

“So when do we leave?”

“Right now.”


	3. Chapter 3

There was a ringing silence after Clarke’s departure.

Bellamy deflates and all fight leaves his body as he plops down onto a raised platform on the bridge. Raven curses loudly. Emori and Murphy are having a silent conversation and Echo stares at him her face inscrutable, something it sucks to have a spy as a girlfriend.

Madi is still staring at the point where Clarke disappeared to as if her thoughts alone could make her appear.

Bellamy looks away because its too familiar a thought and not a time he wants to remember not with the Clarke he was willing to appear gone forever.

He tries to place his gaze anywhere far from Madi and it ends up landing at Octavia. She is staring back at him, her gaze unwavering.

Bellamy is not ready to face that shit storm yet, so he closes his eyes and looks away. That’s why he misses the look on Octavia’s face go from hope to pain and finally to cold fury.

If Bellamy had been paying attention he would have remembered that whenever Octavia was furious she tended to lash out at the easiest target. If Bellamy had been paying attention he would have realized that the easiest target was no longer him. He would have been prepared for Octavia’s acid tongue to turn towards the 12 year old in the group.

“Did she ever tell you that she’s a runner? That she ran when things got hard? That she left behind people and went away to prance in the woods after she let a missile drop on innocents in her quest to save as many people she could but ended up killing everyone anyway?”

These are the words meant to hurt, to cut deep. These are also the words of a person jealous of the devotion this figure, whom she believes to be a worse human than herself, keeps on receiving.

“She did.” Madi answers an expression on her face that reminds Bellamy unsettlingly of Lexa’s most faux unconcerned look. He knows from experience that the look meant she was going to deliver a finishing blow that will cut down her opponent without her having lifted a finger.

He’s proven right when Madi continues.

“Did she ever tell _you_ she put the Alliance in jeopardy to save your life.”

Octavia’s expression of cold fury and bitter jealousy turns to one of shock and confusion.

Madi lets out a laugh, its almost cruel, and Bellamy for the second time in a day, probably the second time since he put the chip in her, feels ashamed at what he did.

“Yeah don’t answer that, I know she didn’t. So let me enlighten you. Lexa ordered Ryder to kill you after she figured out that you knew about the missiles. You remember when you were reassigned to guard the perimeter, alone?”

She pauses for a second lets the memory flood Octavia’s mind.

“Rider had the bow drawn the arrow notched when Clarke showed up, put a gun to his temple and forced him to withdraw. Then she marched him over to Lexa’s tent and gave her the ultimatum either she calls off the hit on you or she tells everyone that they knew about the missiles.”

Octavia’s mouth is set in a grim line by the end of the speech, or what she considers to be the end.

“And do you know the best part? Clarke never told me any of this, never even mentioned this. I only know this because I have her memories.” By this point Madi has lost her sneer and is growling angrily.

Bellamy’s mind catches onto a particular shard of information and before he can stop himself he blurts out the question, “When you say that you have her memories, what do you mean?”

Madi sucks in a quiet breath and looks stricken, like she hadn’t meant to let that information slip.

“Clarke had the chip before me.” She says by the way of explanation.

Realization churns somewhere deep in Bellamy’s stomach. It must show on his panic stricken face because Madi notices and lets out a humourless laugh.

“Yeah.” A soft sound escapes her. She licks her lips before she continues, her voice soft and pained with a little relief mixed in. It’s as if she has been holding it in and really just wanted to let the words out. “So, I know everything Clarke experienced up till that point. And I found out so much. Stuff that she never told me. Stuff like how the first place she went to after she ‘ran away when things got hard’ was Mt. Weather, to give the people there a proper funeral. Or how she never got the chance to mourn Lexa because after she died she had to think of how a new Commander ascending would affect Arkadia, Or how…” She is panting as she cuts herself off.

“Sorry I shouldn’t have told this to all of you.”

The _you don’t deserve to know this_ is unsaid but Bellamy still hears it loud and clear.

Bellamy is turning over the information in his head. He likens himself to a dragon with his treasure, who piles it up and curls around it breathing steam and an occasional string of fire. Because this information is treasure to him, any new information about Clarke has always been one. 

He is brought out of his head by sounds of Madi trudging towards the direction of the cabins, a hand raised in silent farewell, her shoulders slumped betraying her emotional fatigue. Bellamy wants to stop her, make an excuse that they need her on the bridge in the case any decisions had to be made, just so he can glean some more information out of her. But there’s nothing to do on the bridge and the child looks exhausted - emotionally – so he lets her go.

He turns back to his family (steadfastly ignoring everyone else’s presence) and finds each of their faces in variety of closed off expressions, as everyone, like him, tries to digest the new information provided to them.

Bellamy doesn’t want to go down that path right now, there’s work to be done.

He sees Jordan’s raised arm in his periphery and turns to give him a questioning stare.

Jordan ruffles the back of his hair nervously before asking in a timid voice “Hey, so… umm… can I go be with Madi? I think she needs someone who doesn’t hate Clarke at her side right now.”

Jordan’s words aren’t meant to be hurting, he just doesn’t know what part of his thought process to keep to himself. Bellamy just waves him off too tired to argue and say that they don’t hate Clarke.

After Jordan’s footsteps have faded away he turns to Raven and Emori and asks them to start working on getting a connection to the ground.

* * *

 

It’s been a few hours and there’s no progress made on the radio. Octavia, Indra and Diyoza have retired to separate cabins. All of the people from the Ring are on the bridge still, standing or lying in various positions on the deck. None of them ready to leave their family after having lost two of their own to natural death of all things.

Murphy has been pacing across the bridge for the last half an hour shooting Emori worried glances as Emori grows more and more frustrated with the non-progress they are making.

Finally he moves towards one of the display screens. Bellamy notices that he inserts a device in the port but pays it no mind and lets Murphy type away on the screen.

Murphy calls out, “Hey maybe this will be helpful.”

He presses the final key and the sound of static emanates from the speakers. He continues speaking, “I nicked this drive from Reyes. It had Radio Calls written on it in Monty's handwriting so maybe it has some information that will help.”

Bellamy notices Raven’s eyes widen in panic as she pats her jacket pocket looking for something. Before Bellamy can figure out the cause of her panic, the static from the speakers turns into coughs.

“* **click** * *cough* *cough* *retching sound* Shit, that’s a lot black blood.” A voice speaks in a weak wry tone.

Bellamy freezes. Realization dawns on him. The Radio Calls. Oh!

“Okay, here goes nothing The Ground to Ring Station, Hailing Ring Station, Come in Ring Station, Please reply Ring Station.” A pause, “Please… someone reply. Bellamy? Raven? Anyone? Shit please tell me I aligned the dish in time. Please tell me all of you are alive. *sob* *sigh* Griffin get a grip. Ring Station this is Clarke Griffin. I am alive on the ground the nightblood worked,” a pause, then a muttered, “barely.”

Everyone’s attention is singularly focused on the speaker, focused on the voice escaping it.

“So it might be a while before I can radio back I feel another episode coming up and it takes a while to wake up from it. Today is the 15th day after Praimfaya I will try and make contact in 10 days. * **click** *”

Static fills the room again. Bellamy dares a glance at Murphy, he looks pale as he stares at the speaker, Bellamy probably looks the same.

The voice comes on again.

“* **click** *. 40 days since Praimfaya. This episode took longer to recover from. I will be leaving Becca’s lab in a few days for Polis. There not much sustenance here. * **click** *”

Static.

“* **click** *Where was I? Oh, right. Polis. Up until that moment, I believed I’d live in the bunker with the others, with my mom. I can’t bear the thought of leaving her down there, but the hard truth is, I could dig for years and never reach that door. I’ve been by myself now for two months, but this is the first time I feel alone. It’s like we were never here. Maybe we never should have been. How the hell am I gonna make it five years? I came to Arkadia looking for food or water, but all I found were ghosts. Part of me thinks that Jasper had the right idea. What’s the point if all there is this pain and suffering. *snort* Reaal cheerful, Clarke. I’m sorry. Ignore me, ok? I haven’t had water in two days. I need to find some soon, or I don’t think I’m gonna…*ptch*. ” Static. “*long exhale* Anyway… *clears throat* I doubt you can hear me on this piece-of-crap radio… But in case this is the last time I get to do this, I just want to say… Please don’t feel bad about leaving me here. You did what you had to do. I’m proud of you. * **click** *”

Static.

“* **click** *I used to think that life was about more than just surviving, but I’m not sure anymore. Animals don’t feel guilty when they kill. They just do it. They kill or they get killed. I tell myself that every life I took was for a reason, but the truth is, the other side had reasons, too. The Grounders, the Mountain Men, even A.L.I.E… their reasons to want us dead were the same as ours. It was us or them, kill or be killed, simple as that. So what now? What becomes of the Commander of Death when there’s no one left to kill? I guess we’ll find out because my fight is over. The question is, who am I now? Wait till you see this place. It’s like the death wave jumped over the entire valley. Unfortunately, the radiation didn’t. I’ve lost track how many bodies we’ve burned since reaching the ground. God, this would be so much easier if I knew you were alive, if I knew I was gonna see you again. *hmph* Positive thoughts, Clarke. It’s been 58 days. By now, Monty should have the algae farm producing. How bad does it suck? *chuckle* No offense, Monty. And I found berries, a whole field of them. They’re not very sweet, but they’re beautiful. I think that’s what they used to make the paint for… * **click** *”

“That’s when she noticed me.”

A voice cuts through the atmosphere like a sword.

Bellamy’s head turns to face Madi so fast he gets a whiplash. But Madi’s gaze rests on the speaker which is emanating static again.

“She noticed me lurking and followed me.” A small smile appears on her lips. “I led her into a bear trap, tried to stab her to death. Then stole her pack as she laid unconscious from the pain of stitching herself up. She was still relentless. Called me the Child from Hell, then drew me a portrait.”

Another click sounds from the speaker but before any words can escape Madi snatches the disk from the port.

Bellamy’s insides roar.

“I don’t think you should be listening to these. You don’t have the right…” Madi starts her voice small.

“Oh, but we have every right.” Murphy’s harsh voice cuts her off. He is shaking, with what Bellamy can't tell. “These were meant for us. That means we get the right to listen to them.”

Madi looks conflicted, she keeps sneaking glances at every member that went to space, her eyes darting towards Bellamy more than others.

She sighs, then puts on her Commander mask. “No, not right now. There are too many of them, if my Math is correct, and Clarke made sure it was, there are still 2140 calls to go. We don’t have the time, we need to work on the Radio, establish a connection with the ground. After everything is done, after everything is sorted out, you can listen to them. Provided you ask Clarke’s permission.”

Murphy is visibly bristling. Raven’s focus is on the speaker as if she could will it to play the next recording by the power of her mind. Emori looks worriedly at Murphy. Echo is staring at him with a blank face.

And him? He is ice cold. The words keep churning in his mind like a thousand shallow cuts all over his body, ‘the 15th day after Praimfaya…’, ‘40 days since Praimfaya…’, ‘I’ve been by myself now for two months…’, ‘It’s been 58 days…’.

Then the ones which feel like sharp thrusts into his belly, ‘Shit, that’s a lot black blood…’, ‘This episode took longer to recover from…’, ‘I haven’t had water in two days…’. 

Then the one which feels like a bullet to the lung making you drown in your own blood, ‘I’m proud of you…’ ‘I’m proud of you…’ ‘I’m proud of you…’

Bellamy stops it in its tracks, focuses on his breathing and uses his head.

“Madi is right. We need to work on the radio. Let’s get a connection to the ground up and running, so Clarke doesn’t have to talk into the void again.” He uses his best orator skills to piece the speech together.

Madi plops down on the opposite side of the bridge from him keeping as much space between them as possible. Jordan plops down beside her (huh? Bellamy hadn’t noticed him come in).

Bellamy walks over to the window and stares down at this new planet, on the surface of which a ship must have landed,  a woman must have disembarked ready to be burned alive again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's going to be a companion piece to this chapter which is going to show the conversation Madi and Jordan have in the cabin. 
> 
> Please leave comments, by Clarke’s and Raven's calculations it make the writing speed go up by at least 75%.
> 
> I would love to hear your thoughts on what you think is going to happen next or what you want to happen next. 
> 
> You can also contact me on my [Tumblr](https://gryffindor-by-birth.tumblr.com)


	4. Chapter 4

When Clarke steps out on the new planet she experiences warmth. She is transported back to the day. The day that changed everything, the day she first saw the earth.

But this is not the earth, that much is clear the moment the doors to the ship open to let in the light.

This light is not the one they were told stories about on the ark. This is not the light that had made Clarke feel weightless for just a few minutes when she first felt it. This light is different, she does not know if it’s a good different or a bad one. It’s harsher sure but it’s also warmer not in a blistering heat way but a soft blanket way.

But Clarke doesn’t have time to spare trying to figure out the intentions of light. She jumps off the ramp and lands on the surface. The first thing she does is assemble the radio transmitter and attach the solar panels to it. It’s a little harder to move at first the gravity of this planet is a little stronger than Earth’s. But in a half an hour her body adjusts to it, so it could not have been that much stronger.

She pulls out the radiation sensor and turns it on. And waits with bated breath.

The radio at her hip crackles, “Clarke I’ve secured a connection with the Mother ship. I’m patching you through now.”

“We’ve been here for half an hour, how did you manage that?” She asks awe in her voice.

Shaw’s chuckles sound over the radio. “I didn’t do anything. It turns out all we needed was a receiver on the ground. As soon as I powered it up we had a connection.”

Clarke smiles.

Shaw’s voice crackles on again, “Okay, I have you on an open line, I’ll be able to talk in too, but I am guessing you have more to say than I do.”

Clarke waits until there is static. Her thumb moves to press the PTT switch but suddenly she can’t move, panic takes her over she’s reminded of the last time she made an off world radio call.

Her breathing is coming in pants but no air is entering her lungs.

Then, like a floating twig in a storm,  a voice calls out to her over the radio, it’s Madi. “Clarke, come in Clarke. Clarke are you there.”

Her breath leaves her in a whoosh, “Hey, Madi. I’m here.”

“Are you on the ground?”

“Yeah. I am. ”

“Tell me about it, please. What's it like. Is it the same as the valley. Clarke, paint me a picture.”

Clarke grins.

“ _Okai, ai strik Natblida_.”

“The light is…” She’s cut off.

“ _Spek raun Trig_.(Speak in Trig)” Echo’s voice is calm, calculating.

“ _Raunon couda senplei_.(people could be listening)” She continues.

“ _Oso souda wada klin. Dula stan op, mema in. Chit dula op Yu fig raun? Madi? Belomi?_ (we should be be clear with our intentions. Do good, remember. What do you think? Madi? Bellamy?)” She lays the accent on thick, to confuse whoever might be listening, in case Bellamy and Madi disagree with her plan.

“Clarke is right. We do better.” Bellamy speaks. And Madi hums in agreement.

“Okay, Good. So where was I? Right the surface.” She hears at least three sharp intakes of breath.

But she dismisses the sounds as a trick caused by the static.

“You know we should name the planet, I can’t keep calling it the surface. Any suggestions?”

There are a few murmurs at the other end, she hears Murphy shout some ridiculous suggestions, then, “Tabula Rasa.” Bellamy quietly whispers but it carries and a hush falls on the other side. 

Clarke hums in credence .

“Clean slate.” Madi says approval in her voice.

“How did you understand that nerd speak, gremlin.” Murphy asks his voice sardonic as ever, but there’s a tinge of astonishment in there.

“Clarke taught me Latin.” Madi replies before Clarke can calculate the consequences of the statement and stop her. “She said that it would make it easier for me to understand Bellamy’s stories. She also taught me Spanish but not the curse words. She said she’ll leave those up to Raven. And…”

“Madi. _Voulez-vous entendre parler de Tabula Rasa maintenant._ (Do you want to hear about Tabula Rasa now.)"

“ _Désolé s'il te plait continue_. (Sorry, please continue.)” She’s sure Madi is blushing right now.

“Okay, so the light. It’s different from Earth’s. You remember the late hours of evening when the sun is almost gone, and the world is bathed in red light. It’s a little like that, but instead of chill that comes with the sun going away there is a constant warmth. It’s so warm here Madi. But not hot, like the desert. It’s like being wrapped up in the furs in the back of the Rover.”

“The scenery is not much different than that of the valley. I see a tree line up ahead. But the…” She stops short.

“Clarke. What happened.” Bellamy speaks, he sounds worried.

“Shh! I see something in the tree line. I’m moving in to investigate. Put your side on mute, so that the noise doesn’t alert it. Shaw do the same. I’m putting my side in permanent transmission mode so you can hear everything from my side.”

“Clarke…” Bellamy’s voice hisses in panic but then the line goes quiet, someone must have pressed the mute button.

Clarke stalks towards the tree line. She turns to look back to the ship and breathes a relieved sigh at the fact that she couldn’t see it from here.

When she’s finally close enough to the edge of what is undoubtedly a forest on this planet, she notices the shape. It’s a boy. A human boy. He looks to be around Madi’s age, maybe a little older, but barely. He sits on a branch in the tree at the very edge of the forest.

He is looking away from her.

Clarke decides to abandon her years of conditioning to walk light footed and approaches the tree, as noisy as she was that first day on the ground, the boy is situated in.

It must be the boy’s first time in a forest because he doesn’t know she’s there until she’s almost on top of him.

He stiffens when he finally hears her approach.

Clarke proceeds with every bit of caution she can muster. 

“Hey, what are you doing up there.” Her voice is friendly, she can’t help it if some of her motherly tone gets in there.

The boy glares down at her.

“I can’t believe you found me so easily. I thought it would take you people hours before you’ll think of looking in the forest. But your hard work will go to waste, I’m not getting down and you can’t come up here. Soo…” He pokes his tongue out at her.

Clarke huffs a laugh. She walk around the tree, looks it up and down and easily finding the hand holds climbs up to sit beside the boy.

When she reaches the branch he is sitting in, his eyes are as big as saucers as they stare at her.  

“How? You reached here in seconds. It took me 15 minutes to climb up here.”

Clarke just gives him a shrug. She doesn’t mention that she wasn’t even trying to be fast, no need to bruise this boy’s ego further.

“How did you learn to climb so fast, on trees like these. We don’t have these in the kingdom.”

Kingdom, huh? She files that information away for later.

“What are you doing out here, alone?”

The boy scoffs, “Don’t act as if you don’t know.”

At Clarke’s perplexed look, his eyes narrow. “Do you know who I am?”

Clarke shakes her head no. Was this kid famous in this ‘kingdom’. It would seem so. So that and his earlier statements mean that he has run away. That there are people looking for him. That means there are people on this planet, probably descendants of the Eligus III.

“Have you been living under a rock your whole life?” The boy’s astonished shout breaks her out of her musings.

“No, but my head’s been in the clouds.” Not entirely untrue.

“Hi, my name is Clarke Griffin. And you are?” She extends her hand for him to shake.

He looks down at her hand like it’s a foreign object. His eyes dart to her face then back at her hand, before tentatively reaching out to grasp it.

“You’ve got a firm grip there…”

“Raphael, you can call me Raph.”

Clarke looks delighted, “I think I’ll use your full name. It’s such a beautiful name. Raffaello was an amazing artist.”

Raphael scoffs, “Please, he was boring. His art was such a kiss-up. Neoplatonic ideal human. Yeah sure.”

“Language Raphael.” She admonishes. “But just between us, you’re not wrong. His technique was excellent but too conformed. Also his art was sexist.”

Raphael laughs. It’s nice to hear him laugh, he looked so sad when she first got here.

“Yeah, to my knowledge the only renaissance artist who wasn’t sexist was probably Leonardo Da Vinci. I mean Mona Lisa is way overrated, but his other works especially his scientific studies are enough to land him into my good graces.”

“Oh Leo would be so humbled to have secured a place in your good graces.” Clarke ribs good naturedly.

Raphael gives a mock pout.

Clarke's chuckles turns into full blown laughter.

“Okay, back to my earlier question, why are you here? You are clearly a very smart kid, you have to know that this, being here, alone, is dangerous.” Clarke sobers up.

“You really don’t know.” Raphael breathes out.

He looks down then, Clarke sees a tear escape his eye. So her internal mama bear rears her head, and pulls the boy close resting his head on her shoulder.

Raphael trembles, “My parents died yesterday. It was a freak accident.”

Clarke saddens at this. No matter the place death always causes children pain they don’t deserve.

“So you ran away because everyone’s pity got too much?”

Raphael nods against her shoulder, he was crying silently now. She let him. She didn’t offer any condolences, she knew those were redundant.

Finally when he was all cried out.

“Do you have any family left.” Clarke asks tentatively.

Raphael sniffles rubs at his nose and nods timidly.

“An older brother.”

“Okay then,  you need to go back. I know you want to run away, but there is someone waiting for you. Someone who has lost just as much as you have and can’t afford to loose you too. He also needs you right now.”  
Raphael looks stricken at the thought, it probably hadn’t occurred to him before. He nods vehemently. But then looks at the ground and gets a little nauseated as if just now realizing that he might get hurt if he falls from here.

Clarke holds in a laugh.

“I’m gonna go down first, okay. You just step where I step.”

Raphael looks relieved.

Clarke starts to climb down, keeping the distance between her holds shorter than she usually would in consideration of Raphael’s height.

Soon they are on the ground.

She is checking him over for scrapes, when she hears it. Rustling. Multiple feet. Multiple human feet. Shit!

She takes out the radio from her belt.  
“Bellamy some people are approaching my location. I don’t know if they are friendly or not. If I am captured the radio will be confiscated. Do not. I repeat do not reply to the radio until you hear my voice. Shaw leave now, go to the main ship.”

Shaw’s voice cackles over the radio, “But…”

“Shaw the ship cannot be captured. Go now.”

Clarke leaves the radio on the same permanent transmission mode so the others can know what happens to her.

Raphael is looking at her scared. She crouches down in front of him.

“Raphael, these men that are coming they might be dangerous to me. And you might get hurt if you stay too close. So go behind the tree, stay in sight but at a distance. Do you understand? Nod if you do.”

Raphael nods, and starts to move away.

Light floods the space. Clarke didn’t notice but during her talks with Raphael the two suns had set.

“Down on your knees. Down on your knees. Step away from the prince.”

Clarke is already on her knees with her hands above her head empty palms facing forwards. The words register instantly ‘prince?’. Of fucking course the first person she meets on this planet has got to be the fucking prince.

There are guns pointing at her. One of the guy moves to twist her hands behind her back putting cuffs on her. She doesn’t even wince, this is routine for her.

A bag is placed over her head and the world goes dark. She is manhandled into a standing position then a gun pokes her harshly in her back. An involuntary wince escapes her.

She hears Raphael shouting and sounds of a struggle but the voices are muffled through the bag placed on her head.  
She wants to tell him to relax, that she’ll be alright but she stays silent.

She’s roughly patted down, her radio, the radiation monitor and her gun plus various knives are taken off of her.

Then she is pushed forward into motion, a hand on her back to guide her.

* * *

 

She walks for 47 minutes. 34 of those minutes were in the forest. Then her feet hit man made plains, manufactured gravel crunched under her feet. She heard a few shouts, a hiss of a door opening. 9 minutes later she entered some kind of building with artificial lighting. For 3 minutes she was standing still but the floor moved, a lift. 1 minute of walking and then she was shoved onto a chair. Her cuffs unbuckled from behind her then were chained to something in front of her, her arms come to rest on a cool metal surface.

She waits for half an hour in that position. She gets comfortable. This is by far her most stress free imprisonment.

Then a door slams open, and the bag is pulled from her head. She takes a moment to adjust to the lighting, it’s harsh.

A woman stands in front of her. She wears something that Clarke remembers from old Earth movies to be military formal attire.

Judging from the medals on her chest she is a Major General. That’s pretty high up.

They have a stare down. Clarke keeps her face neutral and her posture respectful. But she doesn’t break.

Finally the Major General places her radio on the table in front of her. She glances down at it, the PTT switch is in the permanent ON mode so that means whatever happens, her people are listening. She still says nothing.

“Who are you people? How did you get here? How many of you are there? What is your agenda? Start speaking now.”

Clarke considers her words carefully.

“We come in peace. I am willing to cooperate and answer questions. But not to you. I mean no disrespect Major General. But you cannot make any decisions of my future or my people’s. I will talk with your leaders, your council, whoever has authority to decide my fate,  I will only talk to them.”

The woman looks like she might tear her limb from limb but before she can retort a knock interrupts her. Clarke looks to the side the knock came from behind a mirror, Clarke recognizes this, it’s a classic one way mirror from those old cop shows that were available in the Ark archives.

The Major General touches a hand to her ear, then with a last angry scowl directed at her she leaves the room.

Clarke doesn’t have to wait long for her next visitor, the door opens again and in walks a guy flanked by two guards. He is fairly young maybe a couple years older than her. His hair is short and neat. He is in a three piece suit. The modern image, though is marred by the Knightly arming sword hanging at his waist. It’s a very pretty sword with Ivory handle and a brass scabbard with detailed etching. His facial features are eerily similar to Raphael’s. This must be the older prince, the untimely king.

“Hello Ms. Griffin.” He intones.

Clarke is not surprised that he knows her name.

“Your Majesty.” Clarke knows how to play this game, assert that you are not afraid but don’t show that you are dangerous. It’s a fine line, but Clarke is a master at the art of walking the tightrope.

“You are a perceptive one.” His tone is neutral.

He pulls the chair on the opposite side of the table and lowers himself into it, the guards come to stand on his either side, their hands firmly on their rifles.

“You wanted to talk to someone who had authority, there’s no one higher than me.”

“Thank you. But I must be frank, I am not the only person who makes the decisions on our side. If we are to discuss the situation you need to talk to our council.”

“We are not letting more of your people land on the ground without further information.” He is calm, he doesn’t snarl. He is waiting

“I don’t expect you to. Connect this radio to a bigger speaker, my people will be able to participate that way.”

“Your whole council against me. Seems a little unfair.” His voice is neutral but she can detect hint of a smirk on his lips.

“You can call in your advisors. I’m sure you are not the entirety of the Executive System.”

“Do you expect us to release you from your cuffs too.”

“The cuffs can stay on for as long as you like. But these talks, they are necessary.”

There is a pause, as he considers her.

“You are not gonna reveal anything, if we don’t do this, are you.”

“I’m afraid not.”

“Ok then, give me half an hour I’ll call the Cabinet and then we can get to the discussions. Your council agrees?” He stares pointedly at the radio on the table, which was still in permanent transmission mode.

“Madi, Bellamy, this okay with you all?”

There is static as the other side finally comes off the mute setting.

“This is good with us Clarke.” Bellamy’s voice is hard, betraying no emotion.

The young king nods, before getting up, picking up the radio and moving towards the door.

“Your Majesty. May I have your name.”

The King’s calm façade breaks for a second and he looks startled and then ashamed. As if forgetting his manners is a great folly.

“Edgar Windsor.”

Clarke holds in a chuckle, but an amused grin makes its way onto her lips.

“Raphael must hate that you were named after the cooler artist.”

A mirthful smile curls his lips, “He does.” Then the smile turns to one of gratitude, “Thank you for everything you said to him. And for helping him get down the tree, he knows how to get up but always breaks something getting down.”

Clarke knows in that moment that they had intercepted the radio call because Raphael would not have told anyone about getting helped down the tree. She calms herself, this was good. They had no intention of harming these people and listening in on her consoling their prince could have only worked in their favor.

* * *

 

Clarke spends the next half hour planning for the Cabinet meeting. Goes over the things that she should reveal and things she should keep to herself.

The door opens at 25 minute mark, two guards enter and unchain her from the desk but the cuffs stay on. She is led through multiple passages to a double door guarded by two soldiers in tactical Army gear. The guard leading her here holds up her ID and one of the two guards nods, he brings up his wrist up to his mouth to whisper something in it. There’s a sound of disengaging lock and the double doors swing open.

There is a wooden, huge C-shaped table situated in the room. There are 7 people including Edgar sitting around it. There’s a single comfortable looking chair facing the middle C-shape placed on one side behind a monitor table.

Edgar stands up when she enters the room.

“Take the cuffs off. She is not a prisoner.”

The guard who moves forward with the key looks uncomfortable with the given order, she gives her a warning look as the cuffs come off. Clarke doesn’t even need to rub at her wrists.

She moves towards the chair and waits for Edgar to resume his seat before taking hers.

“Are we connected to the main ship?” Clarke asks in her most respectful voice.

Edgar nods and motions to the touch monitor table in front of her on which she could see the radio waves in video form.

“Madi, Bellamy, can everyone hear me?”

“Loud and clear.” Bellamy answered.

“So now we have met your demands we would like you to answer our questions.” An old man sitting to the left of Edgar speaks up.

“We would be happy to answer all of your questions… umm…”

“Justice Thomas Marsden.”

“Justice Marsden. What would you like to know first.”

Before the Judge could speak Edgar spoke up, “Why don’t you tell us your story Ms. Griffin. I am sure most of our answers will be answered that way.”

Clarke is silent. He had asked specifically for her story, she could not pawn this off to anyone else.

“Bellamy, Indra, feel free to add in any details that I miss out on.” Clarke chose her words carefully. This way they would be able to add information that they deem necessary and also interject if she started to say something they did not agree should be shared.

“Before I start my story I would like to know the year Eligus III left for their expedition. It would make it easier for me to explain the story line.”

“Eligus III left Earth in 2049.”

A woman, Clarke’s age sitting two chairs to the right of Edgar, informs.

“Bhairavi Singh Rajput. Royal Head of security.” She introduces herself without any prompting.

“Dhanyavaad.” Clarke bows her head, her Hindi heavily accented.

To her credit Bhairavi only raises a single impressed eyebrow.

Clarke starts with her story. “I was born in space. In 2052 the Earth was destroyed by a nuclear war. I was born in 2131, 79 years after the first apocalypse. I was born on the Ark, Twelve nations had operational space stations at the time of the bombs, after the bombs the space stations combined to form the ark."

"I was a one month from 18 when a decision was made to send an exploratory group to the ground to check if it was survivable, a 100 years too early. You see, the Ark was dying we had barely a few months of oxygen left before the scrubbers would fail. But the Ark could not afford to send any important personnel to an irradiated planet, so they sent the juvenile delinquents.”

“You were one of them.” It’s Bhairavi who interrupts.

“Yes.”

“What were you in for?” Justice Marsden enquires, his tone is less inquisitive and more accusing.

“Aiding and abetting in act of attempted treason.”

There’s a hushed silence. But no one speaks up and Clarke needs these guys to trust her so she explains.

“It was my father who discovered the failing systems of the Ark. A year before the decision was made to send people to the ground. He believed that the people had a right to know, that telling the masses would unite them and allow for better solutions. I agreed. The Ark council did not. My father planned to release a statement anyway and I was helping him. The council found out. My father was executed and I was imprisoned.”  
Clarke risked a glance at Justice Marsden, he had a grudging respect in his eyes.

No one interrupts her again so she continues. 

“When we got to the ground, we discovered that there were already people alive on the ground.”

“Around 4 and a half months since the landing we discovered A.L.I.E., John Murphy one of the council members, discovered the video diary of Chris, an assistant to Becca, the scientist who created Nightblood.  Through the video diary he discovered that in 2051 Becca successfully created an A.I., who was known as A.L.I.E., to solve mankind’s problems. But due to the phenomenon of Perverse Instantiation the A.I., who had decided that overpopulation was the cause of human misery, stole the launch codes of nuclear missiles and caused the first apocalypse.”

“You keep on saying that, the first apocalypse. Were there more?” A woman sitting to Edgar’s immediate right asked.

“Sorry, Hikari Satou.”

“Hajimemashite Satou san. Yes there were three.”

“Three?” Edgar sounds astonished.

“Yes, the first Apocalypse caused the slow meltdown of the nuclear reactors all over the world. We had a month to prepare. We tried to figure out how to survive the wave of Radiation that was going to descend upon us. We found a bunker and managed to get 1200 people to safety. The rest died.”

Clarke closes her eyes, she can feel the pain again. Radiation coursing through her veins, poisoning her from inside out.

She calms herself without showing any outward signs of distress.

“The third apocalypse?” Satou-san asked, wariness in her tone.

Clarke takes in a shuddering breath, calculatingly letting her emotions show.

“The final straw that broke the camel’s back. That was all due to human greed or megalomania would be the better term. The Eligius IV returned to a razed planet 6 years after the second apocalypse. There was only a small plot of survivable land left at that point. Some of the Eligius IV members didn’t want to share. Some did. Some just wanted to live in peace.”

“Anyway Paxton McCreary believed that if he couldn’t have the Earth then no one could. He dropped Hythylodium bombs on the planet.”

Clarke took a measured glance around the room. Everyone looked sufficiently horrified.

“All the remaining humans, the survivors from the Ark, the ground and the prison transport ship exited the atmosphere. We decided it would be best to wait for Earth’s return in cryo. Two of our own stayed awake though, they were the ones who discovered that the Earth was not coming back. They sacrificed their chance to see us again. Instead they cracked the Eligius III mission files and charted a path to send us here. Its been 125 years since we went into cryo. It’s been 125 years since Earth finally died.”

There was a stiffling silence in the room, as no one even dared move a muscle.

“Anything I missed? Bellamy? Indra?”

“No Clarke I think you covered everything.” Indra’s controlled murmur answered her.

“Not everything.” Edgar intonates. He is staring at Clarke, something in his features that Clarke can’t put her finger on.

“That definitely not everything that has happened to Clarke, but it seems the portions of her story that concern the fate of our ancestral planet have been shared. Now we move onto negotiations. What do you want from us.”

Clarke waits for a voice to crackle over the radio to lay their demands but nothing comes. It would seem that this falls on her shoulders.

“We want a place on the ground. Permission to land and set up a home for ourselves on this planet.”

“You don’t want a place in the city?” Justice Marsden’s voice is soft. He seems to be clearly affected by her story.

Clarke again pauses glances down at the screen in hopes that someone else might answer the questions.

“If you were to offer us a place in your city and there are people who want to take you up on that offer we won’t stop them. But we already have a system and I don’t know how many of us would want to live under an unknown leadership.”

She looks around to make sure she has not offended anyone, she hasn’t.

“What else.” Edgar prompts.

“Most of our people don’t have Nightblood. And they can’t survive the radiation of this planet without it. I know you must have Nightblood solution, for infants born without it, on you. I am requesting you to share it, with only the council at first.”

“That’s a very steep request, Ms. Griffin. Also your knowledge of Nightblood genetics is unnerving.” A man sitting three seats to the left of Edgar speaks up.

“Dr. George A. Beller. Chief of Medicine.”

“Dr. Beller, my mother is our resident doctor and I was training to follow in her footsteps before everything. Also Nightblood was an option that we explored to protect us from the second Apocalypse. So extensive research was done into it and its properties.”

Dr. Beller nods, accepting the explanation.

The cabinet members exchange glances. 

“Clarke if you don’t mind we are going to put a barrier up, so we can have a discussion in private.”

Clarke nods as a screen descends separating her on the other side of the room from the cabinet.

She takes this time to check up on Madi.

“Hey Madi, how are you holding up?”

“I’m fine. You? How are you? Are you hurt?” Madi sounds worried.

“Relax Madi. I'm fine. I’m not hurt.”

“Clarke what are our chances.” Bellamy asks.

Before Clarke can answer the screen is rising out of the way.

Edgar is smiling so Clarke takes it as a positive sign.

“We have decided to let your council land on the ground. We require time to help the others. But we are willing to let them land too in time.”

A breath Clarke had been holding since the start of the meeting escapes her, “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“We’ll require the number of councilors coming down. We need to prepare the Nightblood solutions.”

“Of course. Bellamy, Madi can you prepare the list.”

There was a pause of a few minutes while the line on the other side went silent.

Then the Bellamy's voice addressed the cabinet, "The councilors coming to the ground are Charmine Diyoza, Indra, Raven Reyes, John Murphy, Emori, Echo, Bellamy Blake and Madi Griffin.”

Edgar glances at Dr. Beller who nods confidently. “We will have 8 cures ready. It would be best if you land in the same spot as before, that area has enough flat surface to allow us to erect medical tents.”

“We will do that.” It’s Raven who answers. “Our ETA is 3 hours. We leave ASAP.”


End file.
